Rachel Simons sat in potions class picking at the dirt in her nails from Herbology that morning, and listening to her professor as he paced around near the front of the class. She was tired today, and couldn't seem to concentrate. Break ups are exhausting, she thought. The last nearly 3 years of her life had been spent with Declan, and she really had no idea of how to proceed since he ended it last night. He had been her first boyfriend, therefore she'd never gone through a breakup. It all felt confusing and a bit hopeless, if she was honest with herself. Though she was surprised that she still hadn't cried, she knew she probably should have.

Something's likely wrong with me.

Her eyes closed and she rubbed her forehead, annoyed at herself. Her mind needed a break. She just didn't want to think about it anymore. Her eyes focused back on the teacher as she attempted to direct her attention back on her class.

Professor Snape was giving his lecture for today's lesson in his usual emphatic way, yet her mind immediately wandered away from what he was saying about Galpolott's Third Law, and she wondered if someone like him ever cried. He was human after all, so he must, she supposed. But his overall presence of detached intimidation made one forget that.

He was the youngest teacher at Hogwarts by many years, yet his personality was akin to a grumpy old man scowling at a friendly smile, and muttering angrily at passing children playing. Of all her teachers, he was the most curious. Did he ever laugh at jokes? Tear up when reading a touching story? Did he enjoy sweets? She let out a small puff of air through her nose in amusement as she suddenly pictured Professor Snape in his layers of black robes, lollipop in hand. Then her mind wandered to where he must live. Maybe he had a dark, dingy home to match his personality. Probably with a wood paneled library filled with textbooks and stores of sinister concoctions. Did he sleep in simple, single bed? Or a grand four poster with heavy drapes and satin sheets stamped with Slytherin emblems? And what did he wear to bed? Certainly he wasn't always draped in all those layers of robes.

"Am I to assume you're under some sort of enchantment that prohibits you from speaking and keeps that especially dimwitted expression on your face, Miss Simons?"

She snapped out of it at the mention of her name. The entire class was staring at her and Professor Snape was standing much closer than he had been when she had last noticed, all of his menacing focus now on her. He did not look happy.

"Um, sorry Professor. What was the question?"

"I will not repeat myself, but to ensure you do not forget the details of this lesson- which is apparently below your interest- you will write 12 inches of parchment on Golpalott's Laws and which in particular relate to the material in today's chapter. To be completed by tomorrow. Do you understand?"

He was close enough that she could see the details of his black eyes, they seemed darker than usual. "Yes, Professor. But we don't have class again until Thursday afternoon-"

"Then you will just have to find the time in your busy schedule to bring it in tomorrow, before lunch, is that clear Miss Simons?"

"Yes, Professor."

She was released from his gaze finally, as he swept back up to the front of the class. She let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. He had snapped insults at her before, like he had with most of his students, Gryffindors in particular, and it never really bothered her. This time though, she felt a bit shaken, not sure of why. She inwardly scolded herself. 'Because this time it interrupted thoughts of him in underclothes.'

Something was definitely wrong with her.

After class was over she headed down to lunch, and it was then she realized that she wouldn't be meeting Declan in the common room to walk to the Great Hall together like usual. Which means they probably wouldn't be sitting together, which meant, where would she sit? She had sat with Declan, his friends Rory and Sam, and Sam's girlfriend Mae for the last 2 years. And while she was friendly with all of them, now that she really thought about it, they were 'his' friends, and would definitely stick with him if there were sides to be taken. Oh, how ridiculous. She told herself as she set off toward the stairs leading out of the dungeons. We are mature, eighteen year olds in our seventh year, Dec and I have been friends since we were 11 and have spent nearly every day together since we were 15. There is no reason our friendship has to change, nor is there any need for sides at all.

She decided then that she'd march into the Great Hall and sit down where she always had and laugh and joke and eat with her friends as she always had.

As soon as she saw him though, through the noisy lunch crowd, that resolve weakened.

Her feet seemed stuck to the floor, standing in the large doorway, and the words he'd said to her the night before replayed in her head.

"Things have been rough between us for a while now, haven't they? Like… you're different, or maybe I'm different, I don't know. And we've got our last NEWT's coming up, we're all stressed and overwhelmed as it is, and I just want… I just think we should put our relationship on hold, for now. Let's just take a step back and we'll both be better for it, don't you think?"

At first she had argued, but she had been so shocked that couldn't really think of what to say. She hadn't felt abnormally stressed, she could see no reason why they needed to break up. And he hadn't actually given her one now that she thought back on it... just vague extenuation. At the time she had been so confused she had just conceded. Then he had hugged and kissed her and walked away.

She took a deep breath and walked to her spot at the Gryffindor table and sat down where Declan and Sam were in the middle of a heated conversation about the Chuddley Cannons new Beater.

See? Just another day.

But as she sat down, silence.

"Hey Rach!" said Mae finally, in a overly cheerful tone trying to buffer the discomfort.

"Hey. Snape was in a right foul mood today, wasn't he? It's not like I'm the first one to drift off a little during a lecture. Git. Anyway, it's Ravenclaw we play tonight, right? What time are we heading down to the pitch?"

No one responded.

Declan seemed oddly interested in poking at his dish, and Sam and Rory exchanged a quick glance.

Rachel felt her cheeks start burn. "What?"

No one responded.

She snapped her head towards Declan.

"Well, what is it?" He kept his eyes on his eggs. The fact that he wouldn't even look at her was absolutely infuriating. Mae spoke again.

"We just didn't know if you two would really …want to sit together, at the game today, Rach. We thought, maybe it'd be a good idea to give it a few days, ya know?"

"Give what a few days? I am not the one who seems to have the problem. What the bloody hell did I do? To any of you?"

When no one answered, she grabbed her bag and stormed away. There was nothing else she could think to say and they obviously weren't going to give her answers or make this easy for her.

She hadn't quite made it out of the great Hall before her eyes were welling up. Losing a boyfriend is one thing, but losing every friend you have too? It's not like she had any to spare. Why did she spend every spare moment she had with Declan for the last two years? She'd have probably kept more friends if she'd given it some effort. She felt so foolish, and angry towards Declan for treating her this way. Almost 3 years together, being each other's firsts in every sense of the word, and he treats her like some acquaintance the very next day.

"Acquisition."

The fat lady yawned and swung open for her. She headed up the staircase to her dorm, sat on the bed and looked blankly around. Her 3 roommates' beds were neatly made and empty. These should be my friends, she thought. The bed across from hers belonged to Mae, and that was apparently now out of the question. The bed to her right belonged to Rima Fagan. Who was nice enough, but a bit giggly for her taste. She was a short, pretty girl, who had taught Rachel about some spells for fixing your hair, and helped her do her makeup before. She'd even showed her a spell that shortened your skirt a few inches, while keeping it unnoticeable to the staff. (Rachel had politely passed on that.) Rima had been with her boyfriend Hugo Pierre, a Ravenclaw boy, for just about as long as Rachel and Declan had been together. She spent most of her time with him.

The last bed, to her left, belonged to Sabine Stronach. She was quiet, and had made it very clear since the beginning of school she wasn't interested in friendly small talk with her roommates. She spent most of her time in the library, and was friends with a couple of girls from Slytherin House. She had dark brown hair, with thick bangs cut sharply just above black rimmed glasses, her face always seeming expressionless.

No, no prospects of budding friendships to be found here. Rachel told herself that she just had to make it through the school year (just under 3 months left!), and do well on her NEWTs, then she'd be out of Hogwarts and they could all bugger off. They had testing all next week for their current classes, and the week after- the last quarter of the year began, along with the last classes she'd ever take at Hogwarts.

Rachel opened up her bag and took out her planner and a quill. She looked over her current schedule to figure out where she could fit in some extra studying.

Mondays/Wednesdays: One hour of advanced Transfiguration, followed by one hour of Charms. Lunch, then two hours of Arithmancy.

Tuesdays/Thursdays: Advanced Herbology down in the green houses, followed by double Potions. Lunch, a free period, then Defense Against the Dark Arts from three to five.

Fridays were her favorite days as far as classes went. She had Advanced History of Magic followed by Study of Historical Magical Artifacts; her two favorite subjects, and where her academic passions lie. She had the rest of the day free until Astronomy, which was ten to midnight. Most of the students didn't like the class, usually falling asleep at their telescopes or annoyed at missing Friday night social activities. But Rachel thought the night sky was an absolutely beautiful thing to have to stare up at. She found it calming.

After scribbling down some study times in her planner, she peered in her book bag for the light blue binding of her Potions textbook. Opening it up, she got to work on the assignment Professor Snape had given her, and finished in less than an hour. She still had a couple of hours until Defense Against the Dark Arts, and wanted a break from starting at text. Rachel turned her head towards the small window and looked towards the grounds. It was a warm day for being the first week of April, so she decided she'd get outside for a bit and clear her head.

After putting away her things she walked through the common room toward the portrait hole. It was relatively empty, as most students were in afternoon classes at this time, save for seventh years with lighter class loads or those with free periods.

She made her way down the main stairs and into the corridor that lead to the entrance hall. Nearly there, she heard an odd noise that made her stop and listen. It sounded like some sort of whimpering animal, muffled and faint. She stood in the empty hall for a moment before deciding to follow the noise in case it was a hurt animal, as it wasn't uncommon for small birds or squirrels to make their way into the castle. Following the sound to a small alcove that ended at a storage closet, she stood before the door. The whimpering had stopped, but there was still a small shuffling sound that told her something was in there. She took out her wand, ready with an entrapment spell, and threw the door open.

Her mind could hardly process what her eyes were seeing. In the small, dim space stood Declan; eyes squeezed shut and hands tightly clutching the table he was leaning against, with his pants around his ankles. And someone, (a head full of tousled hair is all Rachel could make out) was on their knees bobbing up and down at his groin. Rachel gasped in shock and Declan's eyes flew open. He let out an odd sort of sound, and snatched his pants up as quick as he could- interrupting the girl's task below him. She wiped the side of her mouth and looked up at him.

"What's wrong, Dec? Oh, god."

The girl turned toward Rachel. It was Rima. Rima Flagan sucking off Declan in a broom cupboard. Rachel was still standing in shock. Declan spoke as he fumbled with his robes. "God, Rachel, I'm… what are you doing here? I- I'm really sorry you had to see, um, this. Look, it's not really what it looks like you know…"

"I think it's exactly what it looks like!"

Anger was beginning to seethe through her.

"We haven't even been broken up a full day Declan! Not even one bloody day! You- you are disgusting." She shot a look at Rima, still kneeling on the dusty floorboards, and spat, "So are you."

Backing up down the corridor the shock melted instantly into tears. She ran down the hall as fast as her legs could go, rounded a corner and kept running, trying to put as much distance as she could between her and the scene that was unfortunately burned into her eyes. She sprinted down a staircase not caring where it led… she seemed to think the pain might stop if she could just get far away from that bloody closet.

She found herself in a dark, narrow hall she'd never been, and slumped down into her knees with her forehead against the wall. Mere hours ago she had wondered why she hadn't yet cried over her boyfriend, and now she couldn't stop the tears- nor catch her breath. The vise-grip her heart seemed to be in clamped down on her lungs as well. She was taking in shallow, struggling breaths as she leaned forward, grasping at the stone as if she could claw her way to oxygen.

I just need to breathe. I need air.

She wasn't thinking clearly anymore. Declan was far from her mind as the panic from suffocation rose, and the already narrow hall was seemed to shrink in size, closing in on her oppressively. Just then she realized someone was speaking.

"..Damn it, girl. Breathe in slowly from your nose, and out from your mouth".

She looked up and through her blurry vision saw Professor Snape leaning over her for the second time that day. She was still heaving, struggling to breathe as she stared up at him.

"Do you want to calm down or not? Do as I say."

She concentrated and tried her best. "In through your nose and out through your mouth. Slowly." He repeated.

She kept looking in his eyes, as if they held hers there, just like earlier in class. But this time instead of inducing fear, they were helping her to focus, and within a minute or so, her breathing was slowing, her sobbing stopped.

The hallway was suddenly unreasonably silent.

He stood back and put out his hand. She hesitated to reach for it, he still so looked angry. But she did so and stood up, still looking at him.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

"This area of the dungeons is off limits to students."

"I'm sorry, I- I was upset, and running. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and just ended up here, I guess."

"Running?" He furrowed his brow. "If someone was trying to harm you then should be reporting it to your Head of House as per the rules of-"

"No... no, nothing like that. I just, I just discovered something, something upsetting. That's all." She knew she must look a mess. Her eyes red and swollen, her cheeks tear-streaked. She looked down at her shoes.

"Well if you are quite done here then you should be getting on. There is nothing down this corridor except some store rooms and my private living quarters…" He cut his words off and cleared his throat. "So, if you will..." He gestured for her to move down the hall.

Her eyes were still to the stone floor as she made her away around him. She briefly wondered why he hadn't berated her or docked points from Gryffindor for her being down there near his… private rooms. She felt her cheeks flush. No doubt from the embarrassment of being caught in hysterics in a hallway. She winced at the thought of having to see him again the very next morning to turn in her parchment. But embarrassment she could take, it was a hell of a lot better than the heartbreak and panic she had been feeling just before he found her there.

Rachel stayed in her bed with her drapes drawn around her the rest of the evening, skipping her Defense class, and the evening Quidditch match. She tried to concentrate enough to at least do some reading, but it had been useless. She felt betrayed, as if the entirety of her relationship with Declan had all been a pretense. Or at the very least not what she had thought it to be.

Mae ignored her when she returned to the room the seventh year girls shared, as did Sabine but that was normal. Rima had snuck in late and crawled right into bed without speaking or making eye contact. Later, when Rachel reached for her wand on her night stand she swore she saw her flinch… shoulders then relaxing after hearing Rachel mutter "Depulso" for a quick banishing charm to send her books back to the shelf. She let herself smirk a bit at the thought of Rima being scared to fall asleep for fear she be hit with a revenge curse. But then Rachel lie awake thinking how ridiculous the whole thing was. Having quite an emotional break over being (sort-of) cheated on, hiding away in her room all day, Rima thinking her capable of hexing her.

No, none of this would matter out in the real world. She again found herself imagining the day she'd be out of Hogwarts, beginning her life. Though doing what exactly she wasn't sure. Before Monday night the only certainty about her life after Hogwarts had been that she would share it with Declan.

Her family consisted of just herself and her mum, who worked as a concierge at a hotel in Muggle London. She had told her daughter in a letter she'd have a job waiting for her at the hotel when she finished at Hogwarts, either in housekeeping or the hotel restaurant. She'd never say it outright, but her mother was weary of the magical world. Always innocently offering alternatives to schools, boys or, more recently, careers, that all happened to be in the Muggle world. Rachel had tried to sound grateful when she had written back, but the thought of not continuing her studies made her heart sink. Exploring the world and following her interests in Magical History was all she could see herself doing, and settling back into Muggle life working in the hotel business she just wasn't willing to do.

I have to get good marks, I have to do well now and then get myself into specialty training or apprenticeship.

Starting with the parchment of work for Snape. Embarrassed or not, she'd bring it in first thing in the morning.